Fen Osler Hampson and Stephen M. Saideman, eds. Canada Among Nations 2015: Elusive Pursuits: Lessons from Canada’s Interventions Abroad Centre for International Governance Innovation

Abstract

Reviewed by: Aaron Ettinger, University of WaterlooIt is uncommon for an academic book review to begin with cover art but 29th volume of Canada Among Nations is worthy of mention. Gracing front is image of a special operations soldier with parachute in full bloom, slightly above a treeline, with a snow-capped mountain in distance. Exactly what paratrooper will encounter on ground is not clear. It is a clever visual representation of challenge of and purpose of this volume. Elusive Pursuits serves as a comparative evaluation of Canadian interventions in post-Cold War era, a period that saw Canada in (or above) Afghanistan, Bosnia, East Timor, Haiti, Kosovo, Libya, Somalia, and at present, Iraq-Syria. Elusive Pursuits is intended to provide lessons learned for that paratrooper and policymakers that will send him drifting to ground next time, wherever and whenever that may be.The volume is inspired by formal end of Afghanistan mission in 2014, which looms large in Canadian consciousness. Or, to be more precise, what looms large is deadly 2006-2011 period of counter-insurgency in Kandahar. This informs scope of intervention laid out in editors' introduction, which defines it narrowly as the use of force to affect domestic dynamics of another country, with broad aim of contributing to international peace and (3). It is for best, however, that contributors do not strictly adhere to this definition. After all, Canada's experience with intervention is much broader than introduction lets on. Thus, Elusive Pursuit's principal strength is broad perspective it takes on and insights that flow from diverse scholarship on issue. The individual contributions in this volume cover a wide expanse of issues that serve to remind readers of scope and implications of Canada's interventions over past 25 years. There are chapters on Canada's recent high-profile combat experiences in Iraq/Syria, Kandahar, and Libya, but also on diplomatic responses to Arab Spring, security sector reform initiatives in Haiti, and disastrous peacekeeping and aid mission in Somalia, consequences of which still linger. Furthermore, there are up-to-date analyses of how Canadian government institutions and society have evolved during post-September 11 era.Undoubtedly, though, most ambitious and controversial chapter in Elusive Pursuits tries to articulate Harper Doctrine on military by schematizing operational code that informed Stephen Harper's duty-driven internationalism. Authors Derek Burney, Fen Osler Hampson, and Simon Palamar make important observation that Harper's interventions appeared to mimic humanitarian and multilateral impulses of liberal internationalism, but his pathways to military are entirely different. …